Crane
206 stayed at Patuxent to be a role model. PhotosDan
Sprague, Patuxent WRC

Once old
enough, the chicks are placed in individual pens next to adult Whooping
cranes (see video, below). It's important for chicks to see adult cranes
right away. Then when they grow up, they will recognize their own kind
and mate with the correct species. The chicks watch these adult whoopers
and imitate them.

In the wild,
baby whoopers learn migration from their parents, but that isn't possible
for chicks hatched in captivity. That's where ultralight airplanes and
people in white costumes will take over that job for these special chicks
of the new Eastern flock. Operation Migration is the organization that
first used ultralight planes to lead birds on migration in the hopes of
someday helping endangered species. That day has come, and these 17 chicks
are the the third group added to the core flock of Whooping cranes (21
birds as of spring 2003) once again migrating in the eastern and midwestern
part of North America.